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Japan FTA to give wine exports a boost

The wine industry says a free trade deal with Japan will make it easier to compete on exports with countries like Chile.

The wine industry says the free trade agreement with Japan will help it compete against one of its main international rivals, Chile.

Under the terms of the agreement, tariffs on Australian bottled, sparkling and bulk wines will be phased out over the next seven years.

Graeme Shaw, from Murrumbateman on the NSW southern tablelands, exports his wine to China and Europe.

He says the agreement is good news for the industry.

"At the moment, we're competing with countries who don't have restrictions that we have," he said.

"Chile, for instance, when they went into Japan with a free trade agreement, the Australian wine sales reduced considerably and theirs went up by about a third, so hopefully with this we'll claw back what we've lost in the past."

Wine industry stalwart David Lowe agrees.

"It is going to be quite significant."

The Mudgee based Lowe says the deal will quickly move tariffs to zero and then Australia can really compete with any other wine producing country.

"We will blow the competition out of the water on price, quality and service.

"We could easily move to a level currently taken by Chile in Japan, 14 per cent as opposed to our current 4 per cent.

"This deal could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the Australian wine industry."